About this episode

Marshall Hawks discusses the intricacies of venture debt and its implications for startup growth.

Venture debt might be the most misunderstood tool in startup finance. Ask ten founders to explain it, and you will get ten different answers, most of them wrong. In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen sits down with Marshall Hawks, a 16-year Silicon Valley Bank veteran who structured hundreds of venture debt deals, including for Airbnb, Twitch, and Fitbit. After SVB’s collapse in 2023, Marshall stepped away to write the playbook founders had been missing: Venture Debt Deals: How to Fund Growth with Less Dilution. He breaks down what is actually happening in the 2026 venture debt market, including bigger facilities, new players in private credit, and what terms really look like today. They also get into when debt actually makes sense and when it does not, the biggest mistakes founders make on term sheets, and why the right lending partner matters more than squeezing out the lowest rate. If you want to grow faster without giving up more equity, or just understand how the full capital stack really works, this one is worth your time. Marshall’s Early Lessons in Finance and Entrepreneurship (02:30) * Learning secured lending basics in his grandfather’s Arkansas pawn shop * Reading…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Cohen

Guest: Marshall Hawks

Topics covered

• venture debt
• startup finance
• capital stack
• founder mistakes
• lending partners

Keywords

• venture debt
• startup finance
• equity dilution
• term sheets
• private credit

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Silicon Valley Bank, Airbnb, Twitch, Fitbit

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